Supporting means for the jack of trailers and like



Dec. 15, 1964 E. w. STARKEY 3,161,401

SUPPORTING MEANS FOR THE JACK 0F TRAILERS AND LIKE Filed June 25, 1962 Fig. 1

WiQgQ United States Patent M 3,161,401 SUPPORTING MEANS FOR THE JACK 0F TRAILERS AND LIKE Ernest W. Starkey, 4107 E. 9th St, Des Moines, Iowa Filed June 25, 1962, Ser. No. 204,687 1 Claim. (Cl. 254-86) This invention relates to a. safe supporting means and more particularly to a support base for the lower end of a jack on the tongue of a trailer or like.

Most house trailers have a pulling tongue adapted to be secured to a motorized pulling vehicle. When the trailer is not being transported it is detached from the pulling vehicle and the tongue is held in a suitable elevated position by a jack means. Usually such jack means is of the screw threaded type, with its contact end extending downwardly. Obviously, the end of the jack must engage a rigid object, and many owners use a rock, brick, or piece of wood under the jack end. Such supports are most unstable and therefore are dangerous to life and property.

Therefore, one of the principal objects of my invention is to provide a trailer or like jack support that will not permit the jack to accidentally slip therefrom.

A further object of this invention is to provide a supporting means for the jacks of trailers and like that will not objectionably slide in any lateral direction.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a jack support that is light of weight.

Still further objects of my invention are to provide a trailer jack support that is economical in manufacture, durable in use and refined in appearance.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangements, and combination, of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, specifically pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of my device,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view and more fully illustrates the use of my device, and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the device taken on line 33 of FIG. 2.

In the drawings, I have used the numeral to generally designate a trailer or like having a tongue 11. The numeral 12 generally designates a screw thread type jack, operatively connected to the tongue 11, and having the lower end portion 13.

It is the rotatable supporting of the end portion 13 that my device accomplishes, and which I will now describe in detail. The numeral 15 designates the base disc plate of my unit. This disc plate has its under side concave and its top side rounded as shown in the drawings. Extending upwardly from and secured to the top center of the plate is a cylinder 16. The inside diameter of this cylinder is slightly larger than that of the outside diameter of the jack end portion 13.

The practical operation of the device is as follows:

The base disc plate 15 is adapted to rest on the ground 17. The base disc plate is placed or held so that the end 13 of the jack is guided into the open cylinder 16. By screwing the jack shaft downwardly its end will rotatably engage the top of the plate 15, and will be held from lateral movement on the plate by the embracing cylinder 16. As the inverted jack is screwed downwardly it will raise and hold the tongue 11. By the plate 15 being of curved disc shape with its under side concave, its sharp edge area will extend downwardly and outwardly in all directions. Therefore, regardless of the di- 3,161,401 Patented Dec. 15, 1964 rection of horizontal forces, the edge of the plate will cut into the ground and prevent all lateral sliding movement relative to the ground surface. By the plate having a substantial diameter it will not objectionably sink into the ground.

My device may be made of any suitable material such as metal, plastic, wood or concrete. If desired, a strengthening bolt means 20 extending through the plate and into the bottom of the cylinder may be used.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my supporting means for the jack of trailers and like without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

In a trailer jack support, comprising in combination,

a vehicle having a tongue with a plate portion on its outer end, Said plate portion having an opening formed therethrough,

a unitary internally threaded sleeve extending vertically through said opening in said plate portion of the free end of said tongue, means rigidly securing said sleeve to said tongue, said sleeve having its end por= tions extending substantially beyond the upper and lower planes of said tongue;

an externally threaded circular jack shaft embraced by said sleeve, said sleeve and shaft threads being in mating engagement whereby said shaft is vertically adjustable relative to said tongue;

means connected to said jack shaft for rotating said jack shaft to obtain the desired positioning of said tongue above a supporting ground surface;

a circular base plate having a concave lower surface and a convex upper surface, said concave and con vex surfaces meeting to form an outer circular pe ripheral edge,

an upstanding cylindrical sleeve fixedly secured at one end to the center of the convex surface of said base plate,

said jack shaft positioned with its lower end in said sleeve on said base plate, and

said sleeve on said base plate having an inner diameter sufficiently greater than the outer diameter of said jack shaft whereby said sleeve is loosely mounted on said lower end of said jack shaft and thereby permits limited movement of said base plate on a supporting ground surface, the peripheral edge of said base plate being adapted to cut into the supporting ground surface to limit movement of said trailer when supported by said jack support.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 10/50 Great Britain.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner-.. HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Examinera. 

